Door locking latch mechanism



June 27, 1950 c. D. M DONALD 2,512,804

DOOR LOCKING LATCH MECHANISM Filed Dec. 13, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 QRW $5.,

N Ckas. ZIW'DOnaZaZ June 27, 1950 c. D. MCDONALD DOQR LOCKING LATCH MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed D66. 13, 1946 June 27, 1950 c. D. MCDONALD DOOR LOCKING 'LATCH MECHANISM Filed Dec. 13, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Zmoembr) N y B (Ittomeg.

Patented June 27, 1950 FUNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE,

' DOOR LOCKING LATCH MECHANISM Charles D. McDonald, Glendora, Calif., assignor to Glendora- Manufacturing Company, Glen.- .dora, Calif .a. corporationv of California Application December 13, 1946, Serial No. 716,013-

3 Claims... (Cl. 70-146) cient door locking: latch mechanism whereby" to:

normally prevent opening of. the respective door, and which mechanism includes a locking element manually retractive from locking position by a remotely located control means.

The invention resides in novel features of advance in. this kind of doors as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and having, with the above, additional objects and advantages, and whose construction, combination and details of means will be made manifest in the following description of the herewith illustrative embodiment; it being understood that modifications, variations and adaptations may be resorted to within the scope, spirit and principles. of the invention as it is claimed in conclusion hereof Figure 1 is a sectional, front elevation of the doorway with the door in normal, vertical closed position; the control cables being in diagram arrangement for clarity, and Figure 2, sheet 1, is a plan diagram of the cable pulleyarrangement of the left door jamb. Figure 3, sheet 2, is a vertical section of details of the structure; the door being in closed position. Figured is a detail section of u the booster for the top of the door. Figure 5 is a sectional plan of the door lock device. Figure 6 is a sectional view showing the knocked down package assembly of the apparatus. Fig. 7 is a diagram of the control cable system for the door.

One embodiment of theinvent-ion includes a garage door 2 mounted for vertical and tilting movement between right and left jambs 4 and 3 having a connecting header 5 along which the top of the vertical, closed door stops. Each jamb has a vertical guide slot as 3a in Fig. 5, and outwardly of each jamb the door frame has a weight well W.

Mounted in each vertical guide slot 3s is a relative, vertical slide 1 and 8 which pivotally receive relative, coaxial trunnions 9-9 rigidly fixed in the vertical edges of the door; the axis of the trunnions being somewhat above the horizontal center line of the door so that the lower part of the door (below the said axis) slightly overweighs the part above the axis thereby causing the bottom end of the door to constantly tend to tip down on the supporting trunnions. However this unbalance feature may be had in any other suitable manner to the same effect.

From slide. 1 a cable It, or the equivalent, risesto a pulley H and thence along the header 5 to: a pulley I 2 above jamb 4 and down in this jamb: to a fixed axis pulley l3 and thence up and con-- necting to the bottom of the slide: 8. It will be. seen that when the slides rise in synchronization the cable H] from slide It pays out to the.

pulley l3 so that the related endof the cable-l0: goes up with the slide 8-.

In the same manner of: hook-up a cable Mi pays out from the slide 8 to aheader pulley l5? and thence to a distal pulley I6 at the topof'jamb 3 and. then.- down in a bight around a pulley. l1 and up tov the bottom of the slide 1. the slides for synchronous actions; going up or going down as the doortrunnions-rise or descendl To motivate the door automatically in upward movement by way of th trunnion slides T'andrB a motor device: is hitched to the slides in adirectmanner to concurrently apply a substantiallyequal lifting moment on the slides. The costl'ess: and springless force of gravity is here employed" to lift the door to horizontal; overhead position. Directly hitched to the slide 1 is a power cablelfl'a which rises to a tandem pair of guide pulleys- Hlb at j amb 3 and directly connected to a suitable weight consisting of a sand loaded can he vertically movable in the well W at stile jamb 3; In a like manner a cabl I42: in the well W at jamb 4' passes over a head pulley Mb from its connection with the slide 8 to the related power weight 83:. The combined weight of the equal weights 1x and 8:1 is somewhat more than that of thedoor 2 and its slides l and 8 and other attachments, so that if the door is free to rise the force of gravity on the weights will act equally on the slide cables Illa and Ma and lift the door to overhead position.

The constant effort of the weights presses a roller 20, mounted in the top of the door, up against a fixed track 2| extending inward from the header and reacting to cause the top edge of the door to take a horizontal path to full open position of the door. So that this back travel may have a fast initial motion there is provided in the header 5, Fig. 4, a booster spring 218 exerting a constant back push on the top of the door to tilt it on the trunnions.

The bottom of thedoor is positively locked by a device, Fig. 5, including a strong latch lever 22, on a fixed pivot 23 in a box 24 set in th foot end of the left jamb 3, and having an outwardly pitched face 22x on its swinging end which latter moves into a notch 25 in the near edge of the door. This latch is controlled by a remote con- This ties 3 trol means as will be explained. The lever has forward of its pivot 23, a laterally extending finger 22' on which is pivoted a dog 26 pulled by a spring 28 to force the latch lever 22 to effective position, Fig. as the dog is stopped by a lug 24a: of the box while the outer end of the dog rests against the near wall of the box and therefore prevents the latch from being pushed back into the box. The outer end of the dog is attached to a small cable 3| which runs to a set of guide pulleys 31m in :a shell 31s and thence to a pulley 32 in the foot of a control post 33 standingfor example at the side of a driveway leading to the door 2. r 1

In this post is operative a travelling pulley 34 hung by a pulling cable 35 attached to the stem of a key-controlled lock 36. The latch cable 31 takes .a bight around the pulley 34 and thence to a foot pulley 31 whence it extends to any suitable or desired control point as in th dwelling, or oifice or other station pertinent to the garage door. By pulling on the cable 31 either at the remotestation or by turning. the stem of the lock 36which will operate to lift the travelling pulleythe dog 26 will be retracted to clear itself from the box wall and to pull in the protruding end of the latch. The thus freed door will at once start to rise.

On the inside, lower portion of the door is a manually operable spring-bolt 4D normally engaging the latch lever 22 to keep the door locked until the latch is pulled clear as above stated.

A feature of this invention is a simple and low-cost means for setting the trimthe operating position-of the door in the jams. Each of the two cables I0 and M has a turnbuckle 4| so located that as the door is lifted the turnbuckles move inward from the tops of the jams 3 and 4. Since the coordinating cables H1 and I4 are deadhitched to the slides 1 and 8, once the cables are trimmed by their turnbuckles no further attention is needed.

Another distinctive feature of the invention is a means by which the open door can be readily pulled to vertical or closed position, say by a person backing a car out of the garage (above mentioned). With this objective, a substantial elastic cable 42 has one end fixed at 43 to a part of the head frame and has a bight around a guide pulley 43p to a traveller M loosely mounted on the header stretch of the cable Hi. The traveller is located to the right of the turnbuckle of this cable, Fig. 1, and the traveller is attached to the near end of a tug cable 45 running down at jamb 3 to a pulley 46 thence out into the shell 31s and past guide pulleys 45 therein and connecting to a pull knob 41 at the top of the post. When the door is open, overhead position (with the trunnions near the tops of the side jambs) the turnbuckle M of the cable I0 has shifted in toward the right and moved close to the traveller 44 which stands retracted by its elastic cable 42 to a degree limited by the post knob 41. When the knob is pulled the traveller comes against the relative turnbuckle and this effort overcomes the weights is: and 8a: and works the cables I D and 14 to lower the connected slides I and 8 and lower the door to upright closed position in the lambs.

What is claimed is:

1. A door locking latch mechanism including a movable latch lever adapted to engage and prevent opening action of :a door, a spring biased dog normally blocking the latch lever in effective position, a cable connected at one end to said dog and at its other end to a remote anchor, a floating pulley engaged in'a bight of said cable, and a lock device suspending and operative to shift the pulley for pulling the cable to mov the dog to unblocking position and disengage the latch lever from the door.

2. The mechanism of claim 1; said latch lever and said dog being operatively interconnected for action as a unit by the cable.

3. The mechanism'of claim 1; and the dog being pivotally mounted on the lever for a lim-' ited degree of motion thereon.

CHARLES D. MCDONALD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 237,583 Northrop Feb. 8, 1881 338,640 Kintner Mar. 23, 1886 663,989 Wilson Dec. 18, 1900 1,271,655 Bettger July 9, 1918 1,843,480 Dautrick Feb. 2, 1932 1,871,744 Schauer Aug. 16, 1932 2,054,735 Asquith Sept. 1.5, 1936 2,096,503 Allread Oct. 19, 1937 2,153,359 Anderson et a1. Apr. 4, 1939 2,225,785 Krocker Dec. 24, 1940 2,246,737 Dall "Jun 24, 1941 2,319,136 Klarns May 11, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 169,792 Great Britain Apr. 4, 1921 

